Chat Thread

Were you given your grade or is this just a feeling you have?

He is a successful immigrant at Berkeley, he probably got an A minus.

He's certainly the right shade of brown.

I couldn't possibly comment on the accuracy of that statement.

No grade yet, but I can't imagine getting above a 60% unless the graders are feeling generous. Every single question was like "list three things this author said." I didn't do any of the readings.

My school releases marks at the same time after all finals are finished, all at once-are you in the same boat?

They have a deadline, but everyone reports their marks independently.

I know you're probably feeling pretty low right now and you're probably already well aware of how stupid you've been but I have to tell you you are some fucking moron. What (if anything) was going through your mind in the lead up to the exam?

SB knows that ultimately it's his STEM grades that will get him the big bucks when he graduates.

*SB at interview with Silicon Valley startup*

Recruiting officer: "Well, SB, your resume is very impressive, but I can't help but notice the large discrepancy between the GPA for your major, and your overall GPA. Why is that?

SB: " I kinda, sorta, didn't study for my Liberal Arts finals."

RO: 'I see. Well, I'm afraid we can't hire you. Good luck in your future endeavors."

SB: "  "

RO: "Sike! You got top grades in Math, who care about what you got in some random English class? Hahaha!"

SB: "Hahaha!"

RO: 'You're hired! High five!"

*Sound of smacking palms*

*End SCENE*

I don't feel low at all. The exam was worth 20% of our grade, so the worst I can do in that class even if I fail it is a B. If it were worth 50% or something I'd obviously have prepared more. Instead I've been prioritising finals that actually matter.

I have had one B+, it is an absolute Rheumatoid Arthritis of an experience seeing that on your screen, never let it happen to you.

Rei Andros wrote:SB knows that ultimately it's his STEM grades that will get him the big bucks when he graduates.

*SB at interview with Silicon Valley startup*

Recruiting officer: "Well, SB, your resume is very impressive, but I can't help but notice the large discrepancy between the GPA for your major, and your overall GPA. Why is that?

SB: " I kinda, sorta, didn't study for my Liberal Arts finals."

RO: 'I see. Well, I'm afraid we can't hire you. Good luck in your future endeavors."

SB: "  "

RO: "Sike! You got top grades in Math, who care about what you got in some random English class? Hahaha!"

SB: "Hahaha!"

RO: 'You're hired! High five!"

*Sound of smacking palms*

*End SCENE*

Speaking as a Liberal Arts graduate who works for an IT company I'm not convinced at all about STEM degrees' value over the course of a modern day graduate's career. If you want a good career you need to be able to do things that computers won't be able to do in 10-40 years. I've no doubt they'll be able to do advanced maths by then but Liberal Arts? Those skills are going to be useful indefinitely.

SBSP wrote:I don't feel low at all. The exam was worth 20% of our grade, so the worst I can do in that class even if I fail it is a B. If it were worth 50% or something I'd obviously have prepared more. Instead I've been prioritising finals that actually matter.

Fair enough, but where's your pride?

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Rei Andros wrote:SB knows that ultimately it's his STEM grades that will get him the big bucks when he graduates.

*SB at interview with Silicon Valley startup*

Recruiting officer: "Well, SB, your resume is very impressive, but I can't help but notice the large discrepancy between the GPA for your major, and your overall GPA. Why is that?

SB: " I kinda, sorta, didn't study for my Liberal Arts finals."

RO: 'I see. Well, I'm afraid we can't hire you. Good luck in your future endeavors."

SB: "  "

RO: "Sike! You got top grades in Math, who care about what you got in some random English class? Hahaha!"

SB: "Hahaha!"

RO: 'You're hired! High five!"

*Sound of smacking palms*

*End SCENE*

Speaking as a Liberal Arts graduate who works for an IT company I'm not convinced at all about STEM degrees' value over the course of a modern day graduate's career.  If you want a good career you need to be able to do things that computers won't be able to do in 10-40 years.  I've no doubt they'll be able to do advanced maths by then but Liberal Arts?  Those skills are going to be useful indefinitely.

In this IT company are you involved at any engineering level?

Someone's going to need to make that computer in 10-40 years time. Beyond the maths and science, a lot engineers/graduate engineers in any field are totally hopeless at maths. Seriously visit any website/forum associated with engineers and see just how bad they are at maths that's even below degree level. I've sat in on an engineering lecture and heard the class collectively groan at the prospect of maths and the lecturer reply by saying "I know you took engineering because you aren't mathematicians but you'll need this for the exam so just memorise the working out". STEM is about problem solving effectively in your chosen sector.I doubt they'll be able to develop a computer to do that as well as a human. And even if they did then they can equally develop a computer with Liberal Arts thinking.

Keyser Söze wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Speaking as a Liberal Arts graduate who works for an IT company I'm not convinced at all about STEM degrees' value over the course of a modern day graduate's career.  If you want a good career you need to be able to do things that computers won't be able to do in 10-40 years.  I've no doubt they'll be able to do advanced maths by then but Liberal Arts?  Those skills are going to be useful indefinitely.

In this IT company are you involved at any engineering level?

Someone's going to need to make that computer in 10-40 years time. Beyond the maths and science, a lot engineers/graduate engineers in any field are totally hopeless at maths. Seriously visit any website/forum associated with engineers and see just how bad they are at maths that's even below degree level. I've sat in on an engineering lecture and heard the class collectively groan at the prospect of maths and the lecturer reply by saying "I know you took engineering because you aren't mathematicians but you'll need this for the exam so just memorise the working out".   STEM is about problem solving effectively in your chosen sector.I doubt they'll be able to develop a computer to do that as well as a human. And even if they did then they can equally develop a computer with Liberal Arts thinking.

No.

What happens when someone makes a computer that's better at making computers than they are?

I agree that they'll eventually crack creative thinking, but they're a lot more nebulous, I'd expect the maths and the hard sciences to go well before them.

Keyser Söze wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

Speaking as a Liberal Arts graduate who works for an IT company I'm not convinced at all about STEM degrees' value over the course of a modern day graduate's career.  If you want a good career you need to be able to do things that computers won't be able to do in 10-40 years.  I've no doubt they'll be able to do advanced maths by then but Liberal Arts?  Those skills are going to be useful indefinitely.

In this IT company are you involved at any engineering level?

Someone's going to need to make that computer in 10-40 years time. Beyond the maths and science, a lot engineers/graduate engineers in any field are totally hopeless at maths. Seriously visit any website/forum associated with engineers and see just how bad they are at maths that's even below degree level. I've sat in on an engineering lecture and heard the class collectively groan at the prospect of maths and the lecturer reply by saying "I know you took engineering because you aren't mathematicians but you'll need this for the exam so just memorise the working out".   STEM is about problem solving effectively in your chosen sector.I doubt they'll be able to develop a computer to do that as well as a human. And even if they did then they can equally develop a computer with Liberal Arts thinking.

This is very true.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

No.

What happens when someone makes a computer that's better at making computers than they are?

I agree that they'll eventually crack creative thinking, but they're a lot more nebulous, I'd expect the maths and the hard sciences to go well before them.

Then isn't someone then going to need to make that even more complex computer? Beyond logical arithmetic, computers only know as much as the person creating them.

I read about filter design recently and it's a good example here. Years ago people designing filters would need to do all the math by hand to calculate the values of the components they would need. It was pretty crude and you can see it in terms of how effective filters are now in comparison to then. Now people just use MATLAB. But the ratio of filter designers to filter demand is actually better than when it was all done by hand. MATLAB does most of the initial/general complex maths but it doesn't make it any easier, fuck, you probably need a degree course just on using MATLAB. It deals in ideal situations so doesn't and can't legislate for a whole host of external factors that will affect the filter. And compared to years ago the required quality of the filters is higher so you just can't let these bugs go. So MATLAB it gives you a base to start from but then the designer will have to solve all the other issues manually and accommodate all the clients filter need manually. I can't see a scenario in our life times where AI will be good enough, cheap enough or accessible enough to replace a person in a situation like this.

And I also don't see them cracking creative thinking ever. You think they'll be robot lawyers?

The Zlatan wrote:

Keyser Söze wrote:

In this IT company are you involved at any engineering level?

Someone's going to need to make that computer in 10-40 years time. Beyond the maths and science, a lot engineers/graduate engineers in any field are totally hopeless at maths. Seriously visit any website/forum associated with engineers and see just how bad they are at maths that's even below degree level. I've sat in on an engineering lecture and heard the class collectively groan at the prospect of maths and the lecturer reply by saying "I know you took engineering because you aren't mathematicians but you'll need this for the exam so just memorise the working out".   STEM is about problem solving effectively in your chosen sector.I doubt they'll be able to develop a computer to do that as well as a human. And even if they did then they can equally develop a computer with Liberal Arts thinking.

This is very true.

I think you study something engineering based, right? You've probably experienced inept classmates 1st hand

Keyser Söze wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:

No.

What happens when someone makes a computer that's better at making computers than they are?

I agree that they'll eventually crack creative thinking, but they're a lot more nebulous, I'd expect the maths and the hard sciences to go well before them.

Then isn't someone then going to need to make that even more complex computer? Beyond logical arithmetic, computers only know as much as the person creating them.

I read about filter design recently and it's a good example here. Years ago people designing filters would need to do all the math by hand to calculate the values of the components they would need. It was pretty crude and you can see it in terms of how effective filters are now in comparison to then. Now people just use MATLAB. But the ratio of filter designers to filter demand is actually better than when it was all done by hand. MATLAB does most of the initial/general complex maths but it doesn't make it any easier, fuck, you probably need a degree course just on using MATLAB. It deals in ideal situations so doesn't and can't legislate for a whole host of external factors that will affect the filter. And compared to years ago the required quality of the filters is higher so you just can't let these bugs go. So MATLAB it gives you a base to start from but then the designer will have to solve all the other issues manually and accommodate all the clients filter need manually. I can't see a scenario in our life times where AI will be good enough, cheap enough or accessible enough to replace a person in a situation like this.

And I also don't see them cracking creative thinking ever. You think they'll be robot lawyers?

Er...the computer they just created that's better than them. You're substantially underestimating the progression of computer technology, it's exponential not linear.

Yes, I think there will be robot lawyers eventually. I'd be amazed if they don't crack creative thinking in our lifetimes, technology is only going in one direction and if crude, poorly designed meatbags can crack creative thought I don't see any reason computers couldn't eventually do it. What makes you think they won't ever?

Keyser Söze wrote:

The Zlatan wrote:

This is very true.

I think you study something engineering based, right? You've probably experienced inept classmates 1st hand

Yeah, I'm doing Civil but with a foundation year as I never did A level maths. Tbf fair I am one of those inept classmates, but like you said earlier, I just memorise it instead and eventually as you do it more and more you actually understand it too, so it's not so bad in the long run. We're all pretty much in the same boat though. Apart from the international students from the middle east who are fucking streets ahead in the maths.

This conversation makes me think of Futurama. 

Made a horrible loud gargle laughing sound at work at the thought of robot lawyers.

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Er...the computer they just created that's better than them.  You're substantially underestimating the progression of computer technology, it's exponential not linear.

Yes, I think there will be robot lawyers eventually.  I'd be amazed if they don't crack creative thinking in our lifetimes, technology is only going in one direction and if crude, poorly designed meatbags can crack creative thought I don't see any reason computers couldn't eventually do it.  What makes you think they won't ever?

I think Google is working on creating a computer that programs itself. It's very secretive, has the brightest brains and cost them $400million and yet it still can't harness the short term memory required to learn and perform logical tasks beyond what they've programmed it to do. It can barely grasp simply algorithms that take us minutes/hours to learn. I think you're slightly overestimating AI, I'm not saying it'll never happen, but I highly doubt it will happen soon enough to affect any of us and if it does I doubt even more that it'll be accessible enough to make STEM disciplines redundant.

The Zlatan wrote:

Yeah, I'm doing Civil but with a foundation year as I never did A level maths. Tbf fair I am one of those inept classmates, but like you said earlier, I just memorise it instead and eventually as you do it more and more you actually understand it too, so it's not so bad in the long run. We're all pretty much in the same boat though. Apart from the international students from the middle east who are fucking streets ahead in the maths.

Might be a stupid question but does it involve any drawing of sorts?

The middle eastern ones are good at maths? Are they from Gulf countries?

i love how The Zlatan says "middle east" so he doesn't be offensive

just say P A K I S and SAND N I G G E R S

Keyser Söze wrote:

ResurrectionRooney wrote:Er...the computer they just created that's better than them.  You're substantially underestimating the progression of computer technology, it's exponential not linear.

Yes, I think there will be robot lawyers eventually.  I'd be amazed if they don't crack creative thinking in our lifetimes, technology is only going in one direction and if crude, poorly designed meatbags can crack creative thought I don't see any reason computers couldn't eventually do it.  What makes you think they won't ever?

I think Google is working on creating a computer that programs itself. It's very secretive, has the brightest brains and cost them $400million and yet it still can't harness the short term memory required to learn and perform logical tasks beyond what they've programmed it to do. It can barely grasp simply algorithms that take us minutes/hours to learn. I think you're slightly overestimating AI, I'm not saying it'll never happen, but I highly doubt it will happen soon enough to affect any of us and if it does I doubt even more that it'll be accessible enough to make STEM disciplines redundant.      

The Zlatan wrote:

Yeah, I'm doing Civil but with a foundation year as I never did A level maths. Tbf fair I am one of those inept classmates, but like you said earlier, I just memorise it instead and eventually as you do it more and more you actually understand it too, so it's not so bad in the long run. We're all pretty much in the same boat though. Apart from the international students from the middle east who are fucking streets ahead in the maths.

Might be a stupid question but does it involve any drawing of sorts?

The middle eastern ones are good at maths? Are they from Gulf countries?

Yes, but that's in the first year and beyond. Luckily I already have a lot of experience with CAD software so it should be okay for me.

Yeah the ones I've spoken to all from Qatar, UAE and Bahrain. It's odd that they're doing a foundation year as they are so competent with the maths already, but it's their English writing skills that let them down, even though they speak great English. They're also worth a lot of money to the Uni (I've been told that they pay 3x as much as a British undergraduate) so it's easy to see why there's so many as well.

vel wrote:i love how The Zlatan says "middle east" so he doesn't be offensive

just say P A K I S and SAND N I G G E R S

I'm a respectful human being.

so am I, but i stick to facts

i made homemade chili a couple days ago, stuck the leftovers in the fridge and hadn't touched it since. was really nervous about how it would taste now but i didn't want to throw it out cuz i spent so much on the ingredients. heated it and it tastes BLESSED

vel wrote:i made homemade chili a couple days ago, stuck the leftovers in the fridge and hadn't touched it since. was really nervous about how it would taste now but i didn't want to throw it out cuz i spent so much on the ingredients. heated it and it tastes BLESSED

Your mother must be very proud.

Watching Black Mirror now, this programme grips me like no other.  Tremendous stuff.

That ending, Jesus fucking Christ 

Spoiler:

Last final for this semester.